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The Numismatic and Antiquarian 
Society of Philadelphia 



SOME 



MODERN MONETARY QUESTIONS 



VIEWED 



BY THE LIGHT OF ANTIQUITY 



A PAPER REAIJ BEFORETHE SOCIETY APRIL i 18 



BY 



ROBERT NOXON TOPPAN 




PHILADELPHIA 

PRINTED FOE THE SOCIETY 

1880 



INTERNATIONAL COINAGE, 







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The Numismatic and Antiquarian 
Society of Philadelphia 



SOME 

MODEM MONETARY QUESTIONS 



VIEWED 



BY THE LIGHT OF ANTIQUITY 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY APRIL i 1880 



BY 



u/ 



ROBERT NOXON TOPPAN 







PHILADELPHIA 

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 

1880 



CTsS 

The Numismatic and Antiquarian 
Society of Philadelphia. 



FOUNDED JANUARY ist, 1858. 

OFFICERS. 

1880. 



PRESIDENT. 
ELI K. PRICE. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
WILLIAM S. VAUX, 
WILLIAM P. CHANDLER, 
EDWIN W. LEHMAN, 
DANIEL G. BRINTON, m.d. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. 

HENRY PHILLIPS, Jr. 

RECORDING SECRETARY. 
J. HAYS CARSON. 

TREASURER. 

HENRY PHILLIPS, Jr. 

HISTORIOGRAPHER. 
CHARLES HENRY HART. 

CURATOR OF NUMISMATICS. 
ROBERT COULTON DAVIS. 

CURATOR OF ANTIQUITIES. 
PHILIP HOWARD LAW. 

LIBRARIAN. 
FRANCIS JORDAN, Jr. 



SOME 

MODEM MONETARY QUESTIONS 

VIEWED 

BY THE LIGHT OF ANTIQUITY 

Mr. President and Members of the Numismatic and Antiquarian 
Society of Philadelphia : — 
The two pieces of money of antiquity exhibited this evening — 
one the gold stater of Alexander the Great, the other the gold de- 
narius, or as it is generally called the aureus, of Augustus — suggest 
some facts in regard to ancient coinage, which it will be well for 
us to consider with attention, as they have a practical bearing upon 
some of the monetary questions of the present time. As is well 
known to the members of this Society, the progressive steps in com- 
mercial intercourse were, first, direct barter, then a selection of a 
common medium of exchange, such as cattle or food of some kind, 
and finally the adoption of a metal which, being in its nature dur- 
able, easily divisible and of intrinsic value, was found by experi- 
ence to be the best medium. The selection of the metal depended, 
of course, upon the locality. In Lydia, where gold abounded, that 
metal was naturally used and became the standard of values. In 
Greece, where the silver mines were worked for many centuries, 
silver became the medium of exchange. In Sicily and Italy, where 
copper was very abundant, that metal was used and became, of 
course, the standard of values. 



When commerce between nations was developed — between nations 
having different metallic systems of money — the relative values of 
the different metals adjusted themselves, from time to time. The 
intrinsic value of gold was found to be superior to that of silver, 
and the value of silver superior to that of copper. A pound of 
gold was worth several pounds of silver, and a pound of silver 
many pounds of copper. The relation, however, between the three 
metals was never permanent, as was natural. Sometimes the gold 
mines produced more, sometimes less metal. Sometimes the de- 
mand was greater, sometimes less. The same rule applied to silver 
and to copper. Where there is only one metal as the standard, there 
are only two elements of disturbance — the demand and supply. 
Where a bi-metallic system prevails, there are four elements of dis- 
turbance. Where a tri-metallic standard exists or could exist, there 
would be, of course, six elements to disturb the relation ; it could 
therefore never be fixed. Only, with all the variations, gold was 
always more valuable than silver, and silver more valuable than cop- 
per. This is a matter of so much importance at the present time, 
and the experience of antiquity bears so directly upon the monetary 
question that has agitated the country for the past few years, that I 
venture to give an extract from the recent publication of M.. Francois 
Lenormant, the French savant and authority in numismatics. In 
his work, published in 1878, called "La Monnaie dans FAntiquit§," 
Vol. I, page 173, he says : " On peut poser en principe que les an- 
ciens ne connurent pas la pretention irrealisable de ce qu'on a 
appele de nos jours la monnaie bimetallique ou le double 6talon. 
Chez eux l'on constate, au contraire, toujours le choix d'un seul 
m6tal adopts comme Stalon fondamental et regulateur de tout le 
systeme mon^taire. Seulement le m6tal choisi a vari6, comme il 
devait arriver necessairement, suivant les circonstances particulieres 
des contrSes et des 6poques." 

" We can lay down the principle that the ancients knew no- 
thing about the unattainable pretension of what is called at the 
present time bi-metallic money, or the double standard. On the 



contrary, we always find that they adopted one metal as the funda- 
mental standard, upon which was based their whole monetary 
system. The metal selected, however, varied, as must necessarily 
happen, according to the particular circumstances of the countries 
and of the periods." 

Language could hardly be stronger to condemn, by the light of 
experience, the attempt made recently to reinstate in its former 
position a metal which the force of circumstances has driven to a 
subordinate place, and if persisted in, it must lead to financial 
trouble. 

The same process that has been going on in Europe and America 
since the addition to the amount of gold in the world by the pro- 
ducts of California and Australia — the substitution of a gold basis 
for a silver one — can be distinctly traced in the monetary history of 
Rome, where the old copper standard was slowly displaced by silver 
as that metal became more abundant, from conquest and by com- 
mercial intercourse, and silver in turn yielded to gold when that 
metal became sufficiently abundant to supply the demands of com- 
merce, so that silver became subsidiary to gold, just as copper had 
become subsidiary to silver. 

Another lesson applicable to the present day can be learned from 
the weights of the ancient coins. The old idea of money being a 
valuable commodity, selected as a medium of exchange, its weight 
was naturally regulated by the standard weight of the country. 
Before the invention of what is called coinage, irregular pieces of 
metal were used as a medium of exchange, which passed by weight. 
At each transaction it was necessary to weigh the pieces, which were 
definite parts of the standard weight of the country. The same 
custom still prevails in some of the Oriental countries. For 
instance, where the Babylonian standard of weights existed, the 
pieces of metal used as money were definite unfractional parts of 
the Babylonian mina and talent. So many drachma pieces weighed 
a mina, and so many a talent. In all the various systems of 
antiquity we find the same rule. In Athens a hundred drachma 



pieces of silver weighed a miua, and six thousand a talent. We 
find the same thing in the Sicilian and Italian systems. Taking 
Rome as an example, the Aes, or As, as it is most generally called, 
which was the unit of the old system, weighed originally one libra 
or pound, divided into 12 ounces, and the subdivisions weighed 
6, 4, 3, 2, 1 and J ounces. When the successive diminutions took 
place, the rule of adhering to a definite part of the pound was 
still followed. The first reduction is supposed to have taken place 
after the battle of Allia (390 B.C.) when the As became J of a 
pound, owing to the scarcity of money. During the war with 
Pyrrhus and Tarentum (279 B.C.) it was again reduced to ^ of a 
pound. In 269 B.C. to ^, and in 217 B.C., when Hannibal threat- 
ened Rome itself, it was again reduced to tV of the pound. There 
were two other reductions up to the time of Augustus, one in 89 
B.C., making the As i^ and the. other tV of a pound. 

The same rule can be seen in the silver coinage. In the begin- 
ning 72 denarii were coined out of a pound of silver ; then 84 ; 
and afterwards Nero reduced the weight of the denarius so as to 
make 96 to a pound. 

In the gold coinage the same thing can be observed. Sylla 
issued an aureus, thirty of which weighed a pound, then 36, which 
rule Pompey followed. Csesar issued a lighter aureus, divided into 
100 sestertii, 40 of which made a pound. Augustus diminished 
the weight slightly, so that 42 made the pound. The aureus of 
Nero weighed it, and that of Caracalla A of a pound. Con- 
stantine made his aureus, or as it is generally called the solidus 
(from which come the words sol and sou), of the same weight as 
the original silver denarius, so that 72 weighed a pound. The 
Merovingian kings, who built up their monarchy upon the ruins of 
Rome, made their solidus the A part of the Roman pound. It 
will be seen from these examples that the old idea of money, cor- 
responding to definite parts of the standard weight of the country, 
still prevailed, notwithstanding the fact that the silver money was 
constantly more and more debased, until finally even a trace of silver 



j 

i 






had almost entirely disappeared, and the imperial despotism had 
gradually accustomed men to consider the imperial effigy as alone 
giving value to the pieces of metal. 

If we now examine the monetary systems of modern times, we 
will find that the idea of coinage corresponding to the standard 
weight of the country was almost entirely lost sight of, until the 
French established their new metric system. For instance, the 
English sovereign, which is their unit, weighs 123 grains and t% 
of a grain — a fractional part of the Troy pound, which is the stan- 
dard weight for coins — so that it takes 46 sovereigns and x%% of a 
sovereign to weigh one Troy pound. To obtain an even number 
we have to take 40 Troy pounds, which are coined into exactly 
1869 sovereigns. The American silver dollar of 412| grains is 
also fractional, so that out of the 5760 grains forming the Troy 
pound, 13 and It of a dollar are struck. The gold dollar, which 
was made the unit in 1873, weighing 25A grains, it requires 223 
dollars and H of a dollar to make a pound. It is needless to give 
further examples. 

The French law of 1795, conforming the coinage to the new 
metric system, was Confirmed by the decree of 1803, when 
Napoleon was First Consul. The change was not simply metric, 
but also decimal, as before that time the duodecimal prevailed, 24 
livres making a Louis d'Or. A five-gramme piece to fine was de- 
clared to be the unit, and was to be called a franc. In order to obtain 
an even 5 grammes, the livre tournois was slightly increased in 
weight and in value about *<r. All the silver coins were made to 
conform. The five-franc piece, for instance, weighs 25 grammes. 
The half franc 2.50 grammes. The copper coins were also made 
to conform ; the two-centime piece weighed 4 grammes, the three- 
centime piece 6, and the five-centime piece 10 grammes. In 1852 
the weight of the copper coins was reduced one-half, but still con- 
forming, so that now one centime weighs 1 gramme, five centimes 5, 
and ten centimes 10 grammes. The French having adopted an 
arbitrary ratio between gold and silver, making one pound of gold 



8 

always to be equal to 15^ pounds of silver, could not make their 
gold coins conform to the system. The twenty-franc piece weighs 
6.tWo 6 (jV grammes and the five-franc gold piece l.AVW grammes. 

Experience having demonstrated that the arbitrary ratio of 15| 
to 1 is incorrect, there is no reason why the gold coins should not 
be adjusted to the metric system, or at least that the fractions should 
not be made simpler. The United States, generally ready to ac- 
cept views of progress, ordered, in 1873, that the half dollar piece 
and other subsidiary silver coins should be struck according to the 
metric system, and the half dollar now weighs 12.50 grammes, exactly 
half of the five-franc silver piece, and the five cent-nickel piece weighs 
5 grammes, so that the people can gradually become accustomed to 
the gramme system. An attempt to alter this law, it is understood, 
will probably be made by Congress, which ought to be strenuously 
resisted by all friends of progress. 

An important lesson can also be learned from the ancient idea of 
coining. It having been found that the weighing of the money at 
each transaction was very inconvenient, the irregular pieces of 
metal were shaped so as to receive a mark upon them, and the gov- 
ernment placed its seal on them, to testify that they conformed to 
the standard weights. The stamping was simply a guaranty of the 
weight and purity. The coining did not give the value, it simply 
testified that the value existed in the piece. This was the true and 
old idea of coining. The ancients never supposed, for an instant, 
that the official seal gave the value, and it was not until Roman 
Imperial despotism had accustomed men to almost complete slavery 
that the Imperial effigy stamped on a coin was considered as alone 
giving value. Through the middle ages this false idea has come 
down to us, and there are many even at this day influenced by it, 
who believe that the government stamp not only gives currency, 
but also value to money. 

In conclusion, I wish to speak very briefly of the subject of an 
international unit, suggested by the coins before us. The gold 
stater of Alexander the Great was the unit of his system, which 



was carried by his conquests to remote countries, and can be con- 
sidered as the international unit of later Grecian times. This stater 
was the successor of the gold daric of Persia, which, in turn, was 
the successor of the gold stater of Croesus, King of Lydia. The 
aureus of Augustus, which was the unit of his system, may also be 
considered as the international unit of Imperial Rome, which 
dominated many nations. Both of these coins weigh about eight 
grammes. This fact is mentioned by Brandis, the eminent German 
scholar, who says that the daric, the stater and the aureus may be 
looked upon as the precursors of the present English sovereign. 

As the metric system has already been adopted by the principal 
civilized nations, and must eventually be adopted by all, not, per- 
haps, with the French nomenclatnre, it being difficult to suppress 
national terms, but by making national weights conform to the 
metric system — for instance, by making the avoirdupois pound 
exactly equal to half a kilogramme, retaining the name of pound — 
and as coins will be eventually weighed by this system, in proposing 
an international unit it is necessary that the piece selected should 
be of an even metric weight. It is for this reason that I suggested 
last year, to the American Social Science Association, that an inter- 
national unit ought to weigh 8 grammes to fine. Such a piece 
would conciliate the English, German, French and American 
systems, as the sovereign £| fine weighs 7. T %%\, and if T 9 o fine would 
weigh 8. T Vo s ^ grammes, the German twenty-mark piece 7. T 9 ^, a 
twenty-five franc piece, such as Spain issues, 8. r %%%, and the Ameri- 
can half-eagle 8. T 3 o 5 5 9 o grammes. The eight-gramme piece would still 
be called a half-eagle, a sovereign, twenty-five francs and twenty 
marks, and the changes demanded are slight, compared with the 
various reductions and modifications that have taken place, without 
exception, in all the monetary systems of the past. 






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